Golf club head and process for making the same

ABSTRACT

In a process for making a golf club head, an open hollow body is formed from metal to define a front striking panel, a bottom panel and a hollow neck section of the golf club head. The bottom panel extends rearwardly from a bottom end of the striking panel. The neck section is connected to the striking and bottom panels. A moldable closed hollow body is formed using a resin-impregnated fiber sheet material, and is positioned inside the open hollow body. An air bag is placed inside the closed hollow body. The open and closed hollow bodies are subsequently placed in a mold. The mold is heated, and air is blown into the air bag so as to pressurize the closed hollow body against inner surfaces of the open hollow body and the mold until the resin-impregnated fiber sheet material is cured.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The invention relates to a golf club head and a process formaking the same, more particularly to a process for making a golf clubhead which is relatively light, which has a relatively large strikingface, and which has different colors.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Golf appeals to people mainly because it is played on greenfields and different landscapes where players can play with ease andstyle. The crisp sound of the club hitting the golf ball is relished bymany golf players. Those who are familiar with the game know that thereare different types of golf clubs depending on their applications andthe terrain on which they are used. There are wood clubs, iron clubs andputter clubs. The process of making a golf club involves the steps offorming a club head and connecting the club head to a striking panel bywelding. However, since there are certain specifications and limitationswith regard to the size and weight of a golf club in the design of clubheads in order to ensure desirable ball controllability of the golfclub, manufacturers cannot, for the sake of increasing the ball hittingrate, merely increase the area of the striking panel. This is becauseincreasing the area of the striking panel inevitably requires theenlargement of the size of the club head, which will lead to increasedweight of the golf club as a whole. This means increased load for thegolf player. Therefore, how to manufacture a light-weight golf club withan increased striking area so as to increase the ball hitting rate is amajor concern in the art. In addition, there exist certain drawbacks, asset forth below, with the manufacture of conventional golf clubs:

[0005] 1. Since the striking panel and the club head of a conventionalgolf club are welded together manually, and since the quality of weldingdepends on the skill and experience of the operators, the quality of thegolf club heads may differ. Poor workmanship may even result information of holes in the striking panel or excessive burrs orinsufficient material at the juncture between the striking panel and theclub head, which makes subsequent finishing operations difficult.

[0006] 2. For the reason stated above, the production speed isrelatively low, and the output of individual operators differs.

[0007] 3. Since golf club heads can be formed from titanium alloy,stainless steel or aluminum alloy, specific welding solders have to beused in welding the striking panel and the club head together. Fortitanium-formed club heads, for instance, titanium solders have to beused. There are currently very few substitutes therefor.

[0008] 4. In view of the fact that golf club heads formed from aspecific metal material require solder materials of the same material,the metallic color or luster of the golf club head is monochromatic,which is monotonous.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to providea process for making a golf club head that has a large striking panelbut is light-weight, and that has different colors.

[0010] According to one aspect of the present invention, a process formaking a golf club head includes: forming an open hollow body which ismade of metal and which defines a front striking panel, a bottom paneland a hollow neck section of the golf club head, the bottom panelextending rearwardly from a bottom end of the striking panel, the necksection being connected to the striking panel and the bottom panel;forming a moldable closed hollow body by using a resin-impregnated fibersheet material, and positioning the closed hollow body inside the openhollow body; placing an air bag inside the closed hollow body; placingthe open and closed hollow bodies in a mold; and heating the mold andblowing air into the air bag so as to pressurize the closed hollow bodyagainst an inner surface of the open hollow body and an inner surface ofthe mold until the resin-impregnated fiber sheet material is cured.

[0011] According to another aspect of the present invention, a golf clubhead produced according to the afore-mentioned process includes a frontstriking panel, a bottom panel extending rearwardly from a bottom end ofthe striking panel, a top wall extending rearwardly from a top end ofthe striking panel, a hollow neck section extending upward from one endof the top end of the striking panel and connected to the bottom panel,and a lateral wall interconnecting the bottom panel and the top wall andextending from one side of the striking panel to another opposite sideof the striking panel. The front striking panel, the bottom panel andthe hollow neck section are made of metal, and the top and lateral wallsare made of plastic.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Other features and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent in the following detailed description of the preferredembodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

[0013]FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an open hollow body foruse in a process of making a golf club head according to the presentinvention;

[0014]FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the preferred embodimentof a golf club head, showing a moldable closed hollow body disposedinside the open hollow body of FIG. 1 to form a semi-finished product;

[0015]FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view showing the semi-finishedproduct when provided with an air bag and when placed inside a mold;

[0016]FIG. 4 is the same view as FIG. 3, but with the closed hollow bodybeing pressurized against inner surfaces of the open hollow body and themold;

[0017]FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the product taken out from the mold;

[0018]FIG. 6 is another schematic sectional view of the product of FIG.5, which is taken along a line perpendicular to the plane of thesectional view of FIG. 5; and

[0019]FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of the product of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0020]FIG. 1 shows a metal open hollow body 21 which is used in apreferred embodiment of the process according to the present invention.In this embodiment, the open hollow body 21 is made of a titanium alloy.The open hollow body 21 defines a front striking panel 211, a bottompanel 213 and a hollow neck section 212. The bottom panel 213 extendsrearwardly from a bottom end of the striking panel 211. The neck section212 is connected to the striking panel 211 and the bottom panel 213.Furthermore, the striking panel 211 is formed with an inwardlyprojecting flanged end 2110 that extends along a top end of the strikingpanel 211. The bottom panel 213 is formed with an inwardly projectingflanged end 2130 along a rear end thereof (see FIG. 5).

[0021] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a moldable closed hollow body 22is formed by using a resin-impregnated fiber sheet material, and ispositioned inside the open hollow body 21. The resin-impregnated fibersheet material is arranged with four to ten layers, and includes acarbon fiber and a resin, such as epoxy resin. The moldable closedhollow body 22 is adhered to inner surfaces of the striking panel 211and the bottom panel 213, and includes a reinforcing layer 222 extendingfrom a top end of the striking panel 211 to the neck section 212, abottom wall 221 lining the bottom panel 213, a top wall 225 extendingrearwardly from the top end of the striking panel 211, a front wall 226(see FIG. 5) lining the striking panel 211, and a lateral wall 220 whichextends from one side of the striking panel 211 to the opposite side ofthe striking panel 211 between the bottom panel 213 and the top wall225. Resin-impregnated fiber strips 227, 228 are respectively insertedinto corner spaces 215, 216 (see FIG. 5) defined by the flanged ends2110, 2130 of the striking panel 211 and the bottom panel 213,respectively. An injection hole 224 is formed in the lateral wall 220 ofthe closed hollow body 22, and an air bag 23 is placed inside the closedhollow body 22, as shown in FIG. 3. Thus, a semi-finished product isobtained.

[0022] Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, a mold 3 comprising upper and lowermold halves 31, 32 is prepared. A mouth 231 is mounted in the injectionhole 224 to connect fluidly with the air bag 23. Then, the semi-finishedproduct along with the mouth 231 is placed inside the lower mold half 32such that the mouth 231 extends outwardly of the lower mold half 32.Then, the upper mold half 31 is placed on top of the lower mold half 32.The mold 3 is heated to a temperature of about 130° C. At the same time,air is blown into the air bag 23 using an air pump head 4 (shown inphantom lines) at a pressure of 3 to 7 mg/cm² to inflate the air bag 23so as to pressurize the closed hollow body 22 against an inner surfaceof the open hollow body 21 and an inner surface 35 of the mold 3 untilthe resin-impregnated fiber sheet material is cured, thereby forming aproduct 24, which has to undergo further finishing steps. Thereafter,the air pump head 4 is detached from the mouth 231, and the product 24is released from the mold 3. Referring to FIG. 6, a sealing piece 25 isdisposed to close the injection hole 224 after the air bag 23 is removedfrom the product 24. The product 24 is subjected to surface finishingoperations, including grinding, polishing, etc., to yield a finishedgolf club head 2 as shown in FIG. 7.

[0023] The golf club head 2 thus produced according to theabove-described process includes: the front striking panel 211; thebottom panel 213, which extends rearwardly from the bottom end of thestriking panel 211; the top wall 225, which extends rearwardly from thetop end of the striking panel 211; the hollow neck section 212, whichextends upward from one end of the top end of the striking panel 211 andwhich is connected to the bottom panel 213; and the lateral wall 220,which interconnects the bottom panel 213 and the top wall 225 and whichextends from one side of the striking panel 211 to another opposite sideof the striking panel 211. The front striking panel 211, the bottompanel 213 and the hollow neck section 212 are made of metal, whereas thetop and lateral walls 225, 220 are made of plastic.

[0024] In view of the aforesaid, the golf club head according to thepresent invention has the following advantages:

[0025] 1. Since the striking panel, the bottom panel and the necksection of the golf club head are integrally formed from a light-weightmetal material, such as titanium alloy, and since the rest of the golfclub head is formed from a resin-impregnated fiber sheet material whichis of a much lighter weight, the golf club head as a whole iscomparatively lighter than conventional golf club heads.

[0026] 2. In view of the light-weight of the golf club head of thepresent invention, the striking panel can be enlarged to increase thestriking area with little effect on the overall weight of the golf clubhead.

[0027] 3. The parts of the golf club head that are formed fromresin-impregnated fiber sheet material can be coated with coatings orpaints of different colors during the finishing steps to make the golfclub head more colorful and appealing.

[0028] While the present invention has been described in connection withwhat is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it isunderstood that this invention is not limited to the disclosedembodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included withinthe spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompassall such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

I claim:
 1. A process for making a golf club head, comprising: formingan open hollow body which is made of metal and which defines a frontstriking panel, a bottom panel and a hollow neck section of the golfclub head, said bottom panel extending rearwardly from a bottom end ofsaid striking panel, said neck section being connected to said strikingpanel and said bottom panel; forming a moldable closed hollow body byusing a resin-impregnated fiber sheet material, and positioning saidclosed hollow body inside said open hollow body; placing an air baginside said closed hollow body; placing said open and closed hollowbodies in a mold; and heating said mold and blowing air into said airbag so as to pressurize said closed hollow body against an inner surfaceof said open hollow body and an inner surface of said mold until saidresin-impregnated fiber sheet material is cured.
 2. The process asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said resin-impregnated fiber sheet materialis arranged with four to ten layers.
 3. The process as claimed in claim2, wherein said resin-impregnated fiber sheet material includes a carbonfiber and an epoxy resin.
 4. The process as claimed in claim 3, whereinthe air is introduced into said air bag at a pressure of 3-7 kg/cm. 5.The process as claimed in claim 4, wherein said mold is heated to atemperature of about 130° C.
 6. The process as claimed in claim 5,wherein said open hollow body is made of a titanium alloy.
 7. Theprocess as claimed in claim 1, wherein said moldable closed hollow bodyis pressurized against inner surfaces of said striking panel and saidbottom panel to line said inner surfaces of said striking panel and saidbottom panel and against said mold to define a top wall extendingrearwardly from a top end of said striking panel, and a lateral wallextending between said bottom panel and said top wall and extending fromone side of said striking panel to another opposite side of saidstriking panel.
 8. The process as claimed in claim 7, wherein saidstriking panel is formed with an inwardly projecting flanged endextending along said top end of said striking panel, and said bottompanel is formed with an inwardly projecting flanged end along a rear endthereof.
 9. The process as claimed in claim 8, wherein aresin-impregnated fiber strip is inserted into a corner space defined byeach of said flanged ends of said striking panel and said bottom panelbefore said closed hollow body is placed inside said mold.
 10. A golfclub head produced according to the process of claim 1, comprising afront striking panel, a bottom panel extending rearwardly from a bottomend of said striking panel, a top wall extending rearwardly from a topend of said striking panel, a hollow neck section extending upward fromone end of said top end of said striking panel and connected to saidbottom panel, and a lateral wall interconnecting said bottom panel andsaid top wall and extending from one side of said striking panel toanother opposite side of said striking panel, wherein said frontstriking panel, said bottom panel and said hollow neck section are madeof metal, and said top and lateral walls are made of plastic.